Before her Polaroids lined the walls of the Memorial Chapel, before whispers and sniffles echoed in her remembrance, before even strangers mourned her, Kristen Meske was a freshman who brightened her roommate’s worst days, studied diligently and prepared to change the world one day.
That’s the way more than 200 mourners dressed in black remembered the student who was run over and killed by a pickup truck in Crofton last week. The sky glowed an electric gray during her service yesterday at 4 p.m. and inside people watched photo montages and listened to friends and family pay tribute to the last smiling moments of the girl with long brown hair and oval spectacles.
“Anywhere but here, you would rather be anywhere but here,” said Rev. Beth O’Malley of the Columbia United Church of Christ. “Anywhere but here … so you wouldn’t have to be in a place talking about Kristen in the past tense.”
One after another, eight people went up to the altar and described Meske as shy yet brilliant. Uncle Ron Schwartz gave an eulogy recalling her ironic humor and innate ability to understand others. Meske, an 18-year-old native of Silver Spring, was remembered by her uncle as a strict academic who “consumed and excelled in everything.”
“Had she lived,” Schwartz said, “she would have been the scientist to discover a cure for AIDS or find a way to travel at the speed of light.”
Her roommate, freshman letters and sciences major Julie Markowitz, delivered an emotional speech for a friend she met last semester through the random selection roommate process. She described the messy room and endless nights of conversations they shared.
“She was everything you wanted in a roommate,” Markowitz said minutes before confessing she forgot to tell Meske something the night before she was killed: “Baby, you looked damn good.”
Even people who never knew Meske personally paid respects. Freshman letters and sciences major Roxanne Shorrock, who attended Silver Spring International Middle School with Meske, brought a card for the family.
“It was a shock to me that she had died after not seeing her since the sixth grade,” Shorrock said. “It really hits close to home even though I didn’t know her that well.”
Close friends and family members shared more memories and poems throughout the service, including some of Meske’s original writings. Meske’s father, Philip, read a letter Kristen wrote in the seventh grade that outlined instructions to her parents.
“I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with your parental policies.” She listed demands that included receiving an allowance and charging her parents 25 cents for every swear word they said.
Meske’s younger sister Carolyn read a poem at the service and was not shy about letting others know how much she loved her sister.
“She was an amazing person,” Carolyn said as she pointed to dozens of pictures displayed in the chapel. “She always looked at the bright side of life and did funny things.”
Jordy Goldstein, a freshman at Duke University, remembered Meske’s silliness when they gathered worms in elementary school and tried to sell them to Goldstein’s mother. Mount Holyoke College freshman Abby Goldman was between laughter and tears as she reminisced about singing songs in sign language with Meske.
“She was a totally crazy creative person that did silly things,” she said.
In lieu of flowers, the Meske family is asking for donations to the Kristen Meske Fund through The Columbia Foundation. Mr. Meske said the money will go to charities Meske would have wanted.
Contact reporter Arelis Hernandez at hernandezdbk@gmail.com
